An effective work space and living space is a component of healthy living. A functional living space means decreased stressed, increased efficiency in how you operate and accomplish tasks day to day.

Here’s how to clear the clutter and get organized, once and for all! (Yes, you can do this!)

Clutter has a way of creeping up on us and one day we realize it is simply out of control. Leaving it alone only increases it dimensions and makes the overwhelm significantly pronounced.

How to Begin:

Start by scheduling time over the course of days and perhaps even weeks to tackle the issue. Consistent work on it will yield progress. Often just getting started helps get the ball rolling and you can move along faster. It is necessary to understand that there simply is not enough space for everything to fit. One general rule of thumb I apply is that everything needs a place to be stored.

Rule: If something doesn’t have a place to be then either create a place, or don’t keep the object.

It’s really that simple. If you don’t do this, it is a guarantee that it will be tucked under something and otherwise rendered useless. It will become forgotten among items it has nothing in common with. You will end up wasting time looking for it in places it shouldn’t be, and if you don’t find it, you will most likely end up buying another one!

What do you do when you are stuck with the decision of whether to keep or toss out an item? If you unearthed it from under a pile of junk and you forgot you even had it, chances are you don’t need it.

Get tough. If your answer isn’t strong enough, perhaps the item needs to find a better home –the trash or donation center is that better place.

Contributed by Coach Juli, CPC: ADHD Productivity Coach. Efficiency Expert since 1984, and author of the eBook, Order! A Logical Approach to an Organized Way of Life, www.getordernow.com. Contact at jshulem@gmail.com 805-964-2389 or www.coachjuli.com.

How many hours do you waste each week trying to find papers and information like manuals and receipts? Decrease your stress by implementing these expert must-do filing systems for keeping the home-office organized.

It is essential to have an organized way to keep the papers you must retain. Even with having much of what you need on your computer, there are invariably papers needed and they should be filed away properly. There are files that you should have for your personal papers as well as for your household, so here are my recommendations:

1. Have a suitable filing cabinet. It makes little sense to have various crates and caddies holding your papers, which can tend to make it difficult to file and retrieve papers easily and quickly. Most filing cabinets have either two or four drawers, are vertical with about 25” deep drawers, and can hold a lot of papers. Get what will allow you to put all your papers away with a little room to grow.

2. Files should be put into hanging files with tabs that denote what each contains. If you simply shove your papers into manila folders and then put those into a drawer in alphabetical order, you haven’t made a logical system. This concept only ends up getting papers put away, but are not very accessible later on.

3. Use categories. There are various categories of record-keeping that are standard, and many of these could end up being in your computer, versus hard-copy, but the same general rule of organization applies. Here is a list of the most common ones (for a complete description check out www.getordernow.com for my eBook on this):

Make categories that make sense for your needs and adjust accordingly as your business and life changes.

***Coach Juli is a Professional Certified Coach with a specialty in Productivity specifically those with ADHD. She works with individuals at any stage of life who find themselves stuck and wish assistance and skills to better organize their lives both in the workplace and at home. For more information and tips how to decrease stress and increase efficiency go to www.coachjuli.com

A healthy living space is part of wellness! An efficient household means less stress for everyone. Here are your five expert tips how to create a healthy, organized and functional living space:

1. Make a plan!
Before organizing, know what it is or where it is that you will be focusing. To just begin willy-nilly often ends up leaving a bigger mess than which you started. Go through the entire house and list areas room-by-room. Be specific: kitchen counter, dining room table, under table, pantry, cutlery drawer, etc. Break the project into small, doable tasks that you can check off your list.

2. Schedule specific time.
If you find you have been saying, “I need to organize this” and yet you never get around to it, chances are without scheduling it as an appointment with yourself, it won’t happen. Just like exercising: you need to plan and schedule this for it to become part of your regular day. If you have a very long list of organizing tasks, then you would be best off scheduling time daily to address it. I encourage clients to schedule 30-45 minutes each day.

3. Start with “stuffed spaces.”
It is impossible to put things away where there is no space for anything to go. It only makes sense to begin by clearing space in existing cabinets and cupboards. There is usually so much packed into these and much of the things in the back are no longer useful. Start here and be ready to toss items that cause you to say, “Oh my, I still have this?”

4. Get rid of unworn clothes.
It’s probably time to do a wardrobe assessment. Try items on and see what still fits, looks good, makes you feel good and is in style. Be realistic about how many different sizes of clothes you need to hold onto. Chances are if you have been a size for a few years, you won’t be changing drastically anytime soon, and if you do, you will probably want new clothes anyway. Let go of the ones you aren’t wearing.

5. Schedule a donation pick-up within 48 hours of organizing.
So many times, a client gets things bagged or boxed only to have the stuff sit around in corners for days or weeks. Plan for your give-aways to be removed promptly. Afraid you will go back through your bags and boxes? Use opaque trash bags.

Contributed by Coach Juli, CPC: Efficiency & ADHD Coach. Efficiency Expert since 1984, and author of the eBook, Order! A Logical Approach to an Organized Way of Life, www.getordernow.com. Contact at jshulem@gmail.com, 805-964-2389 or www.julishulem.com